This year’s Emmy Award nominations were announced yesterday. Surprisingly, some of my favorite shows actually made the short list. Unfortunately, it’s all for naught, given that the same series that won last year and the year before are destined to win yet again. Oh well, as the saying goes, “It’s nice to be nominated.” No one really believes that, though, do they?

‘Mad Men’ has already won four consecutives Emmys for Best Drama Series, and ‘Modern Family’ won for Best Comedy Series twice as well. Both shows were nominated in those categories again this year, and will undoubtedly continue to win year after year until they finally leave the air. I don’t honestly have anything against either of these shows, but doesn’t this make the awards ceremony really, really boring?

That’s a rhetorical question. Of course it does.

Drama Series

1. ‘Boardwalk Empire’
2. ‘Breaking Bad’
3. ‘Downton Abbey’
4. ‘Game of Thrones’
5. ‘Homeland’
6. ‘Mad Men’

Of the six nominees for Drama Series, half of them (‘Boardwalk Empire’, ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Mad Men’) all appeared on this list last year. ‘Downton Abbey’, which won the Emmy for “Best Miniseries or TV Movie” last year, has jumped categories and is now being recognized as a full-fledged series. I guess having a second season means that you can’t be called a miniseries anymore.

Then again, ‘American Horror Story’ (my favorite show of last year) is nominated in that Miniseries or TV Movie category now, despite the fact that it will return for a second season in the fall. I honestly have no clue how the Emmy committee makes these decisions.

If I had my druthers, ‘Game of Thrones’ would take home the Drama Series trophy this year. Sadly, if its first season couldn’t topple the ‘Mad Men’ juggernaut, its second won’t be able to either.

As for Miniseries/TV Movie, I have a feeling that ‘American Horror Story’ (which got great ratings but mixed reviews) will lose out to either the History Channel’s corny ‘Hatfields & McCoys’ or HBO’s laughably inept ‘Hemingway & Gellhorn’. That’s just the way the Emmys usually work.

Comedy Series

1. ’30 Rock’
2. ‘The Big Bang Theory’
3. ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’
4. ‘Girls’
5. ‘Modern Family’
6. ‘Veep’

I like ‘Modern Family’. I really do. But its third season was a very ho-hum affair, with few outstanding episodes. It may take home another trophy, but it doesn’t deserve to.

’30 Rock’ is way past its prime and shouldn’t be on this list at all.

‘The Big Bang Theory’? Meh. Jim Parsons will probably nab another acting trophy (he already has two), but his show won’t take this category.

‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ has amazingly managed to stay fresh and funny for eight seasons, but if it hasn’t grabbed an Emmy by now, that streak isn’t likely to change. If it ever had a real shot, Season 7’s ‘Seinfeld’ cast reunion would have been the time.

Lena Dunham’s HBO series ‘Girls’ is hugely popular among hipster bohemians, but I can’t imagine the stodgy middle-aged Emmy voters going for it. Then again, Dunham and her show scored five nominations in all, so who the hell knows?

Far and away the best nominee on this list is HBO’s political satire ‘Veep’. The show is sharp, topical and hilarious, which is exactly why it will lose to a safe, middlebrow family comedy.

Disclaimer: I’m terrible at making awards predictions. Take anything I say here with a grain of salt.

The Emmy ceremony airs September 23rd, 2012. Jimmy Kimmel, who announced the nominations in his pajamas yesterday, will host.

[Source: The Los Angeles Times. Hop over there for the rest of the nominees.]